Quidditch World Cup Seeks Out Wizardry’s Best

Throw in the basics of soccer and water polo, add a dash of rugby and flag football, and top off with a whole lot of love for wizardry.

Those, in case you Muggles didn't know, are the basics of Quidditch, the fictional sport played by any wizard worth their salt in the Harry Potter franchise. In the magical world of Hogwarts, Quidditch is played on brooms as competitors fly around a designated playing field trying to throw a Quaffle (essentially a ball) through a series of three hoops, while each team's Seeker flies around trying to grab the Golden Snitch.

Still with me? Well, the sport has become tremendously popular over the last few years, and dozens of clubs have popped up at colleges and universities all around the world. Enough so, in fact, that the International Quidditch Association (yes, this exists) recently wrapped up its fourth annual Quidditch World Cup. This year, more than 750 athletes from 46 teams converged on New York's DeWitt Clinton Park for big-time Quidditch bragging rights.

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Putting the "Fun" in Fundamentals

Quidditch, in its real-world form, is pretty simple to play. Two sides converge on the Quaffles at the beginning of the match — much like the start to any dodgeball contest — and proceed to start scoring as quickly as possible. The Quaffles usually consist of a slightly deflated soccer ball or kickball, and players run around with brooms between their legs, trying to rack up points as their designated Seeker waits to grab the Golden Snitch, which is worth 30 points. (In the books, the Golden Snitch is essentially a flying golden ball with wings. Read on for how real-world Quidditch accounts for that bit of mythology.)

Photo: AP/Mary Altaffer

Parade of (Hopeful) Champions

In all, 46 teams arrived in New York for the chance to snag the first-place trophy from Middlebury College, the defending champions and prohibitive favorite going into the tourney. Even more schools, like the University of Florida, have full-fledged teams but couldn't pony up the funds to get to New York.

Field of Dreams

It was only three years ago that the first intercollegiate Quidditch match in the history of the Muggle world was played between Middlebury College and Vassar College. Today, there are hundreds of Quidditch clubs being organized both at the university and high school level.

Organized Quidditch has now spread to 45 states, and there is even talk of lobbying the NCAA to recognize Quidditch as a sanctioned collegiate sport.

Two Minutes to Glory

As it turns out, Quidditch matches can last for quite a while, though the match is immediately over once a team claims the Snitch. Michigan State and Syracuse put on such a display of competitive brevity Saturday during the World Cup's opening round.

The match comes to a quick conclusion after barely two minutes of play, when a quick-handed Spartan grabs the Snitch and securely the victory for Michigan State.

An Even Playing Field

If you're thinking that Quidditch is yet another male-dominated sport, guess again. Competitive Quidditch, as least the form that's developed in the US, is geared toward the participation of both men and women — IQA rules mandate that each team have at least two women on the pitch at any given time — yet another reason why it's grown so quickly in popularity over the past three years.

Snitch Hunt

Of course, the easiest way to win the match is to grab the Snitch, which in our world is a tennis ball stuck inside a blue sock that hangs off the back/waist of someone running around the field in gold-colored clothing. That would be ... wait for it ... the Snitch Runner.

IQA-approved Snitch Runners come in all forms, from a former high-school wrestler to a gold-cummerbunded woman who's ready to tear your face off if you try to come near her Snitch. After all, a Snitch is worth 30 points, and the match ends once the Snitch is successful retrieved, so it's critical that your team grab the snitch first (unless you're losing by more than 30 points).

And as this footage from a Purdue/McGill match shows, Snitch Runner have no reservations about getting physical if Seekers are insistent on snatching that Snitch.

Wizards Like It Rough

Quidditch, as it's depicted in the Harry Potter books and films, is a very violent sport, and real-world Quidditch isn't for the meek, either. It's full-contact, and a few people were even taken off in ambulances. Much of that physicality comes with the frequent jockeying for the Snitch between the Seeker and Snitch Runner.

Silver Bells

Going into this year's tournament, Middlebury College was fully expected to the capture yet another Quidditch World Cup victory, and it did, winning 100-50 in the final match. But it was the Tufts University Tufflepuffs — seen here hoisting the second-place trophy — that captured the hearts of Muggles and wannabe wizards alike, knocking out numerous top teams before eventually succumbing in the finals.

The Tufflepuffs did, however, end the match in a most dramatic fashion by capturing the Snitch and the 30-point bonus. That made the final result 100-50 in favor of defending-champ Middlebury, but the Tufflepuffs could certainly hold their heads, the trophy, and their brooms high with pride.